He said he'd got it from a mate who works in Apple. The employee was able to nab one from the stock-cupboard and sling it over.

Whether the China-sold white iPhones come from there, from Apple's Chinese operation or from one of its manufacturing partners isn't known.

The latter were certainly the source for the parts enterprising New York teenager Fei Lam used as the basis for the black-to-white iPhone 4 converstion kits he's done rather well out of selling - to the extent he was accused of fencing stolen goods. ®